System and method for cladding mode detection

ABSTRACT

According to an exemplary embodiment, systems and methods can be provided for compensating for, reducing and/or eliminating data associated with at least one aberration provided within a sample. For example, using such exemplary systems and methods, it may be possible to transmit at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the sample via an optical fiber. At least one second electromagnetic radiation can be received from the sample, and the first and second radiations may be associated with one another At least one first intensity of at least one portion of the second radiation within a core of the optical fiber and at least one portion of at least one second intensity of the second radiation within a cladding of the optical fiber at least partially surrounding to the core can be detected. Further, the first radiation and/or the second radiation can be modified as a function of the first and second intensities so as to compensate for, reduce and/or eliminate the data associated with the aberration.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION(S)

The present invention relates to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/983,779 filed Oct. 30, 2007, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to methods and systems for optical imaging, and in particular to exemplary embodiments of system and method for, e.g., using adaptive optical arrangement to correct for aberrations in a wave front due to propagation of light through tissue such as the cornea and the lens of the eye or semi transparent objects.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

Many imaging systems suffer from wave front aberrations, which reduce image quality and sharpness. Image quality, sharpness and signal to noise ratio can be improved by correcting actively for wave front aberrations in the optical system. Most adaptive optics schemes employ a device such as a shack-Hartmann sensor, to measure the wave front aberrations. Based on these measurements an active element like a deformable mirror or a spatial light modulator corrects the optical system for the wave front aberrations. Correction for wave front aberrations have been implemented in ophthalmic imaging, where the aberrations introduced by the cornea and lens are actively corrected for.

One example of adaptive optics in opthalmology is the implementation in a laser scanning opthalmoscope (SLO). In retinal imaging by a SLO an image of the retina is formed by raster scanning a focused beam over the retina and detection of the reflected light. To improve image quality, the out of focus light is rejected by a pinhole, in analogy to confocal microscopy. Adaptive optics has been implemented to reduce the aberrations by the cornea and lens. FIG. 1 shows a prior art implementation of adaptive optics in an SLO configuration that uses a Shack Hartman sensor to measure the wave front aberrations.

Another example is adaptive optics combined with Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT). In ophthalmic OCT, the light reflected from the retina is coupled back into a single mode fiber. The single mode fiber acts as a pinhole, accepting only one spatial beam mode. Ocular aberrations not only distort the beam profile on the retina, but also distort the beam profile of the reflected light from the retina. Due to the spatial filtering by the single mode fiber, a portion of the reflected light does not couple back into the fiber. An arrangement to address this issue may use of adaptive optics. Adaptive optics has been integrated with TD-OCT systems and procedures as described in Hermann, B. et al., “Adaptive-optics ultrahigh-resolution optical coherence tomography,”, Optics Letters, 2004. 29(18): pp. 2142-2144.

Due to reduced beam aberrations on the retina and improved coupling of the reflected light back into the single mode fiber, a signal-to-noise (SNR) improvement of up to 9 dB was demonstrated compared to the uncorrected case. It was also demonstrated that the main corrections were associated with defocus and astigmatism. (See Zawadzki, R. J. et al., “Adaptive-optics optical coherence tomography for high-resolution and high-speed 3D retinal in vivo imaging”, Optics Express, 2005. 13(21): pp. 8532-8546, FIG. 2). In other demonstrations of adaptive optics integrated with an SD-OCT system, an improvement in the SNR may have been attributed mainly to a correction for defocus and astigmatism as described in the Zawadzki publication referenced above, and an increase in SNR by 7 dB may have been achieved using adaptive optics as described in Zhang, Y. et al., “High-speed volumetric imaging of cone photoreceptors with adaptive optics spectral-domain optical coherence tomography”, Optics Express, 2006. 14(10): pp. 4380-4394. FIG. 1 herein shows a diagram of a conventional system having an SLO configuration with adaptive optics as also shown in A. Roorda, et al., “Adaptive optics scanning laser opthalmoscopy”, Opt. Express 10, pp. 405-412 (2002).

There may be a need to overcome certain deficiencies associated with the conventional arrangements and methods described above.

SUMMARY OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

To address and/or overcome such deficiencies, exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be provided.

According to certain exemplary embodiments of the present invention, apparatus and method can be provided which may which can be used without a wave front sensor to determine the aberrations by an iterative method. For example, a light reflected from a sample may be analyzed by detecting a core and a cladding mode to determine the relative coupling efficiency into approximately a TEM₀₀ mode. A relative coupling efficiency may be used as a feedback parameter for adjustment of the wave front correction. As a result of an optimized wave front correction, images with higher resolution and higher collection efficiency can be acquired. The adaptive optics scheme may be combined with an ophthalmic OCT imaging systems and procedures.

For example, exemplary embodiments of the present invention can provide the s According to an exemplary embodiment, systems and methods can be provided for compensating for, reducing and/or eliminating data associated with at least one aberration provided within a sample. For example, using such exemplary systems and methods, it may be possible to transmit at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the sample via an optical fiber. At least one second electromagnetic radiation can be received from the sample, and the first and second radiations may be associated with one another At least one first intensity of at least one portion of the second radiation within a core of the optical fiber and at least one portion of at least one second intensity of the second radiation within a cladding of the optical fiber at least partially surrounding to the core can be detected. Further, the first radiation and/or the second radiation can be modified as a function of the first and second intensities so as to compensate for, reduce and/or eliminate the data associated with the aberration.

According to another exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the aberration can be an optical aberration. It is possible to increase the first intensity of the second electromagnetic radiation within the core. It is also possible to iteratively configure an arrangement providing the modification based on the first and second intensities. The second intensity can be determined using a refractive index between the cladding and a medium surround the cladding. Such medium may be substantially index matched with respect to the cladding.

According to a further exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to receive the second radiation from the sample and at least third radiation from a reference, and interfere the second and third radiations with one another. For example, a processing arrangement can be used which is configured to (i) generate at least one image of at least one portion of the sample, and (ii) determine the first intensity based on a depth information for the portion of the sample contained in the image. A frequency of the first electromagnetic radiation can change over time.

These and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become apparent upon reading the following detailed description of embodiments of the invention, when taken in conjunction with the appended claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which:

Further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying figures showing illustrative embodiments of the invention, in which:

FIG. 1 is a diagram of a conventional system having an SLO configuration with adaptive optics;

FIG. 2 is a diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to the present invention which includes an exemplary adaptive optics configuration;

FIGS. 3A-3F are a set of exemplary graphs illustrating Intensity measured by an exemplary cladding detector and an exemplary core intensity (bottom curves) as a function of a DM pattern;

FIGS. 4A and 4B are exemplary three-dimensional graphs of an exemplary intensity as a function of axis and optical power of an exemplary deformable mirror for a core mode.

FIGS. 4C and 4D are three-dimensional graphs of an exemplary intensity as a function of axis and optical power of an exemplary deformable mirror for a cladding mode.

FIG. 5 is a diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the system according to the present invention which has an exemplary optical design for detecting light coupled into a fiber cladding;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of still another exemplary embodiment of the present invention of the system which is integrated in an exemplary lateral tracker system; and

FIG. 7 is a flow diagram of an exemplary embodiment of an optimizing method/technique according to the present invention.

Throughout the figures, the same reference numerals and characters, unless otherwise stated, are used to denote like features, elements, components or portions of the illustrated embodiments. Moreover, while the subject invention will now be described in detail with reference to the figures, it is done so in connection with the illustrative embodiments. It is intended that changes and modifications can be made to the described embodiments without departing from the true scope and spirit of the subject invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXEMPLARY EMBODIMENTS

In view of the above-described prior systems and procedures, it may be preferable to provide an exemplary embodiment of adaptive optics system and method which can correct for the ocular aberrations. According to one exemplary embodiment of the system, a Shack-Hartman sensor can be excluded, and the system can measure the light reflected in a “core” and a “cladding” mode, and adapt a wave front correcting element in an iterative loop based on these aforementioned measurements.

Exemplary Supporting Information

An exemplary adaptive optics system has been tested which can correct for low order ocular aberrations. Instead of using a Shack Hartman sensor to analyze the wave front reflected from the retina, an optical configuration has been implemented where the power coupled into the single mode fiber core and the cladding is measured.

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of an exemplary embodiment of a system according to the present invention which includes an exemplary adaptive optics configuration. As shown in FIG. 2, electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light or beam thereof) provided from a single mode fiber (200) with a core (270) and a cladding (275) can be collimated by a lens (205) and focused on by another lens (210) onto a glass slide with a mirror (215) having a dot which can be gold. A further lens (265) may collimate the beam with a flat wave front (250). The beam can reflect off a deformable mirror (225) and a further mirror (230), and then focused onto a target by yet another lens (240). For example, the trial lenses (235) can be provided to create a wave front distortion.

Upon a reflection by the target (245), the beam traverses the reverse path back to the dotted glass slide (215). The light that leaks around the dot of the mirror (215) due to wave front distortions can be focused by the lenses (220) and detected by a detector (260). The detector (260) can be a single detector or an array detector with multiple elements. The light emits from the fiber core (270). For example, to determine the fiber core and cladding intensity, it is possible to image the fiber tip onto the dot of the mirror (215) (e.g., about 5-7 μm diameter) on a transparent substrate.

Optimizing the power coupled into the fiber core (270) can improve the collection efficiency of the SD-OCT or optical frequency domain interferometry (OFDI) system. The sample arm beam can be focused on the dot (215). The reflected beam can be collimated again, reflected off the deformable mirror (DM) (225), and focused on the sample (e.g., in this case a mirror—element 245). The reflected light can traverse the reverse path back to the sample arm fiber. Wave front aberrations may distort the spot or dot on the mirror (215), such that light can leak around it. Thus light can be detected by a photodiode 260. The light leaking around the (e.g., gold) dot of the mirror (215) may otherwise couple into the fiber cladding (275), e.g., the “cladding” mode. The deformable mirror (215) can have, e.g., a particular number (e.g., 12×12) actuators under the continuous membrane with a gold coating on the top surface. A clear aperture may be, e.g., about 4.4 mm. An exemplary maximum actuator stroke can be about 3.5 um, and the wave front pattern update rate may be about 500 Hz.

Correcting Defocus

It is possible to test the ability to calculate the wave front correction for the DM by inserting trial lenses (235) with defocus and astigmatism after the DM to mimic ocular aberrations. Trial lenses with powers of −1.5, −1, −0.5, 0.5, 1 and 1.5 Diopters (D) can be used. After the insertion of a trial lens, the DM may be updated in, e.g., about 100 steps with a pattern corresponding to an optical power between about −2 and 2 D. FIGS. 3A-3E show a set of exemplary graphs illustrating Intensity measured by an exemplary cladding detector (260) and an exemplary core intensity coupled to the fiber core (270) as a function of a DM pattern for exemplary 6 different trial lenses. Each exemplary measurement took 0.2 seconds. An insert in each graph shows the optical power of the trial lens in Diopters.

Correcting Astigmatism

Similar or approximately the same procedure can be used to determine the ability to correct for astigmatism. Certain exemplary lenses with an astigmatic power (cylinder) between −1 and 1 D may be used, and certain lenses can be mounted at different orientation angles. FIGS. 4A-4D show exemplary graphs for a lens with about a 0.5 D cylinder, mounted at 2 different angles. For example, FIGS. 4A and 4B illustrate two-dimensional surface graphs show the core (left) and cladding (right) intensity as a function of orientation angle (e.g., 36 steps over 180 degrees) and optical power (e.g., 100 steps over −2 to 2 D, in 0.04 D increments) of the deformable mirror. For both angles, the optimal mirror configuration can be provided by mapping the parameter space in, e.g., about 3600 steps, taking, e.g., about 7.2 seconds. An exemplary optimal DM configuration can be given by the simultaneous peak in the core intensity and dip in the cladding intensity.

Adaptive Optics Integration onto Exemplary SD-OCT System

As described herein, defocus and astigmatism can be determined and corrected for by exemplary system and method where the light intensity in the “core mode” and the “cladding mode” are detected. Such exemplary configuration does not require a use of a Shack Hartman wave front sensor to determine the correction used by the DM. There can be certain advantages of this exemplary configuration, such as compactness, mechanical stability and no need to align the image plane exactly on the scan galvanometer mirrors.

According to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the gold dot which may be used in certain results to separate the core mode from the cladding mode for separate detection bay be supplemented by the single mode fiber itself. Guidance of the light in the core mode can be caused by the refractive index step at the core-cladding boundary of a single mode fiber. Light coupled into the cladding may not be guided but may leak out while propagating in the cladding. The light coupled into the cladding can be detected by stripping the buffer from the cladding and using an index matching gel or epoxy around the cladding with an equal or higher refractive index to eliminate the cladding-air internal reflection.

FIG. 5 shows a diagram of another exemplary embodiment of the system according to the present invention which has an exemplary optical design for detecting light coupled into a fiber cladding. This exemplary embodiment of the system can detect the light coupled into the fiber cladding. For example, an angle cleaved single mode Hi flexcore 780 fiber with the buffer can remove sticks through a mirror with, e.g., a 250 μm hole in the center. Index matching with the fiber cladding may be achieved by an index matching epoxy (e.g., n=1.5). Light that is not coupled into the core can be coupled out of the cladding. After the reflection by the mirror, the light may be collected by a lens and imaged onto a detector. One of the advantages of this exemplary design over the gold spot mirror design can be an elimination of two lenses and the gold spot mirror, and it is not necessary to align the focused light carefully on the gold spot mirror. The exemplary design is likely smaller and more robust with respect to mechanical shock and vibration.

The light coupled into the cladding (520) can be detected by stripping the buffer from the cladding and using an index matching gel or epoxy (560) around the cladding with an equal or higher refractive index to eliminate the cladding-air internal reflection. As a result, the cladding (520) may not guide light, and the cladding mode (540) can freely propagate out of the cladding (520). This freely propagating cladding mode (540) can be reflected by a mirror with a small hole to guide the fiber, focused by a lens (570), and imaged on a detector (580). The space between the mirror and the cladding can be filled with an epoxy or gel (560) with a refractive index that matched closely the refractive index of the cladding. Light coupled into the core (550) can be guided by the single mode fiber core.

Adaptive Optics System/Lateral Tracker Head Integration

The optical design of the adaptive optics system integrated in the tracker or scan head of an OCT system is shown in a block diagram of FIG. 6.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, the exemplary OCT system can include an interferometer having a source (610), a splitter (620) that can split the electromagnetic radiation (e.g., light) into a reference arm (630) and a sample arm (640). After its return from the sample and reference arm, the light in the fiber cores can be recombined by the splitter (620) and interferes and is detected by the detector (600). In can be understood from an exemplary OFDI system, the source (610) can be a rapidly tuning laser source with a narrow instantaneous line width. In an exemplary SD-OCT system, the source (610) can be a broadband source and the detector may include a spectrometer (600).

Turning to FIG. 5 which shows an enlarged view of the iteration between the mirror 670, the cladding mode detector 580, the core 510 and the cladding 520 (as well as FIG. 6), the OCT light can be coupled into a single mode fiber with the core (510) and the cladding (520) and with a cladding mode detector consisting of element 530, 560, 570 and 580 at the human interface end. An f=50 mm lens collimates the OCT light to a beam, incident on the DM (670). A telescope (e.g., f=100 mm and f=50 mm lens pair) can reduce the beam before the beam enters the lateral tracker scan head, and images the DM 670 to a conjugate plane in between the closely spaced OCT galvanometer scan pair (680).

The conjugate plane can be imaged to the pupil plane in the human eye (730) by a scan lens (710) and an ophthalmic lens (720). The beam passes two tracking mirrors (690) to compensate eye motion. The eye motion may be detected by a eye tracker with a tracking and LSLO beam (740) that is combined with the OCT beam by a dichroic beam splitter (700). Upon a reflection from the eye (730), the light can travel the reverse path to the deformable mirror (670) and the cladding detector (580). Because of the uncompensated wave front aberrations in the eye, not all of the light would be coupled into the core (510) of the fiber (500). Part of the light may be coupled into the cladding (520). The light in the cladding (520) may propagate freely out of the cladding due to the refractive index matching epoxy (560), and the cladding light may be reflected by the surface (530) to the lens (570) and the cladding detector (580).

The light coupled into the core (510) can be combined with the reference arm light to interfere and to determine a depth profile in the sample. The depth profile can be integrated over depth to give the total amount of light coupled into the core (core intensity). One or more computers can process the OCT signals to create a depth profile, and determine the core intensity. Such computer(s) may also be connected with the cladding detector (580) to determine the cladding intensity. Based on the core and cladding intensity, the computer(s) can execute an optimization procedure to improve the wave front correction by the deformable mirror 670. The computer(s) may send a wave front correction signal to the deformable mirror (670). According to one exemplary embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to provide sacrificed higher order aberration corrections for a much simpler optical design with fewer optical components that need minimal alignment.

As indicated herein, the exemplary procedure to calculate the DM wave front correction performs a detection of both cladding and core mode. The flow diagram shown in FIG. 7 illustrates an exemplary embodiment of a procedure to determine the optimal configuration of the wave front corrector or deformable mirror (670). The cladding detector assembly (FIG. 5) directly gives the intensity coupled into the cladding. For example, the core intensity and the cladding intensity is determined (step 710). Then, the wavefront is changed in a fixed direction (step 720). Further, the core intensity and the cladding intensity is again determined (step 730). It is then determined whether the core over cladding ratio is increased from the prior determination (step 740). If so, the process returns to step 720 and repeated. Otherwise, the wavefront direction is changed (step 750), the process returns to step 720 and repeated. For example, the intensity coupled into the core can be calculated by integrating the intensity along an OCT depth profile.

The flow diagram shown in FIG. 7 can be modified by initializing the search on the lens prescription of the sample (e.g., of a patient), and by using an optimized search procedure that determines the direction of largest improvement of the cladding and core intensities parameters for the determination of the optimal (e.g., fastest convergence) wave front correction.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the invention. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. Indeed, the arrangements, systems and methods according to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention can be used with and/or implement any SEE, OCT system, OFDI system, SD-OCT system or other imaging systems, and for example with those described in International Patent Publication WO2005/047813, U.S. Pat. No. 7,382,949, and U.S. Pat. No. 7,355,716, the disclosures of which are incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements and methods which, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the invention and are thus within the spirit and scope of the present invention. In addition, to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above, it is explicitly being incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications referenced herein above are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. 

1. A system for at least one of, compensating for, reducing or eliminating data associated with at least one aberration provided within a sample, comprising: at least one first arrangement which is configured to transmit at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the sample via an optical fiber; at least one second receiving arrangement which is configured to receive at least one second electromagnetic radiation from the sample, the first and second radiations being associated with one another; at least one third detection arrangement which is configured to detect at least one first intensity of at least one portion of the at least one second radiation within a core of the optical fiber and at least one portion of at least one second intensity of the at least one second radiation within a cladding of the optical fiber at least partially surrounding to the core; and at least one fourth arrangement which is configured to modify at least one of the at least one first radiation or the at least one second radiation as a function of the first and second intensities so as to at least one of compensate for, reduce or eliminate the data associated with the at least one aberration.
 2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one aberration is an optical aberration.
 3. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one fourth arrangement is iteratively configured to increase the at least one first intensity of the at least one second electromagnetic radiation within the core.
 4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the at least one fourth arrangement is iteratively configured based on the first and second intensities.
 5. The system according to claim 1, wherein the at least one third arrangement is further configured to determine the at least one second intensity using a refractive index between the at least one cladding and a medium surround the at least one cladding.
 6. The system according to claim 5, wherein the medium is substantially index matched with respect to the at least one cladding.
 7. The system according to claim 1, further comprising at least one fifth arrangement which is configured to receive the at least one second radiation from the sample and at least third radiation from a reference and interfere the second and third radiations with one another.
 8. The system according to claim 7, wherein the at least one fifth arrangement: includes a processing arrangement which is configured to: a. generate at least one image of at least one portion of the sample, and b. determine the at least one first intensity based on a depth information for the at least one portion of the sample contained in the at least one image.
 9. The system according to claim 7, wherein a frequency of the at least one first electromagnetic radiation changes over time.
 10. The system according to claim 7, wherein the at least one fifth arrangement: generates at least one fourth radiation as a result of the interference of the second and third radiation, and includes a spectral detection arrangement which detects the at least one fourth radiation for multiple wavelengths.
 11. A method for at least one of, compensating for, reducing or eliminating data associated with at least one aberration provided within a sample, comprising: transmitting at least one first electromagnetic radiation to the sample via an optical fiber; receiving at least one second electromagnetic radiation from the sample, the first and second radiations being associated with one another; detecting at least one first intensity of at least one portion of the at least one second radiation within a core of the optical fiber and at least one portion of at least one second intensity of the at least one second radiation within a cladding of the optical fiber at least partially surrounding to the core; and modifying at least one of the at least one first radiation or the at least one second radiation as a function of the first and second intensities so as to at least one of compensate for, reduce or eliminate the data associated with the at least one aberration.
 12. The method according to claim 11, wherein the at least one aberration is an optical aberration.
 13. The method according to claim 11, further comprising iteratively modifying or increase the at least one first intensity of the at least one second electromagnetic radiation within the core.
 14. The method according to claim 13, wherein the iteratively modification or increase is based on the first and second intensities.
 15. The method according to claim 11, further comprising determining the at least one second intensity using a refractive index between the at least one cladding and a medium surround the at least one cladding.
 16. The method according to claim 15, wherein the medium is substantially index matched with respect to the at least one cladding.
 17. The system according to claim 11, further comprising receiving the at least one second radiation from the sample and at least third radiation from a reference and interfering the second and third radiations with one another.
 18. The system according to claim 17, further comprising, using a processing arrangement: a. generating at least one image of at least one portion of the sample, and b. determining the at least one first intensity based on a depth information for the at least one portion of the sample contained in the at least one image.
 19. The system according to claim 17, wherein a frequency of the at least one first electromagnetic radiation changes over time.
 20. The system according to claim 17, further comprising generating at least one fourth radiation as a result of the interference of the second and third radiation, and detecting the at least one fourth radiation for multiple wavelengths using a spectral detection arrangement. 